Recently while moving a large piece of furniture, I discovered this strange thing called a newspaper, which apparently ppl used to read before blogs. Actually, I remember this newspaper well, not only because we used it to balance the armoire in question, but because this was around the time that we were regularly battling with the NYT, alleging that they were not doing a good job of delivering the newspaper to our Washington Heights apartment. (You may not remember this, but many ppl used to 'subscribe' to newspapers, i.e., you would pay money to read the articles, as opposed to 'clicking through.') They insisted that to the contrary, they were doing a good job, and as it turned out, they were right; we subsequently caught one of our neighbors 'in the act' one morning at five o'clock by placing the newspaper with a wire attached to it in front of the door like bait on a fishing line, and at approximately 5:30, the wire jiggled: we had a bite! Stephen threw open the door and caught the neighbor holding the newspaper; we called the police and the perpetrator was quickly sentenced to death. Just kidding about that last part: we asked him (in no uncertain terms) not to steal our newspaper any more, and at least he stopped. (This episode did make for some uncomfortable elevator rides over the ensuing years, but part of living in New York City is enduring these kinds of awkward moments with ppl you might otherwise prefer never to see again.)
Looking at the newspaper, I was struck by how things have changed and not changed in the headlines: nutjobs are still killing fellow citizens; politicians are still signing laws and appearing pleased with themselves for inflicting misery on the average citizen; the rich get richer and the poor suffer. What's changed is that our new president is a Democrat and isn't white; whether he's a 'tool of the rich' is a debatable proposition. What's also changed is that more people get their news from blogs and reality shows than ever before.
Some guy from England won an election and appeared very happy about it, as did his 'wife' (a sad and antiquated word used mostly by nonhomosexuals) that still persists despite all logic, and I guess his dentist, who I'm not sure why was in the picture, but whatever, dentists deserve happiness too! This is what happened on Friday, June 8, 2001: there have probably been better days in the history of the world, and there have certainly been worse.
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01/31/2011
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ORDER HERE
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A young boy wanders into the woods of Harlem and witnesses the abduction of his sister by a glowing creature. Forty years later, now working as a New York City homicide detective, Gus is assigned to a case in which he unexpectedly succumbs to a vision that Helen is still alive. To find her, he embarks on an uorthodox investigation that leads to an ancient civilization of gods and the people determined to bring them back.
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Praise for #gods
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Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine
Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.
Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past
Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.
Video: The Chaos Detective
The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.
Funny story, and one similar to one from my past: About fifteen years ago, we were not receiving our newspaper either. We figured out that it was the (nonheterosexual) guy from across the street who was stealing it. My partner got up early in the morning, snapped a picture of the guy stealing it, then threw open the front door and yelled "PUT IT BACK!!!" That took care of that.
I still read newspapers. As much as I like getting instant info from the 'net, I still like lingering over a hard-copy newspaper. But then, as you may have guessed, I'm a slow reader, by design. Don't like to rush things!
Posted by: Robert le Diable | 02/01/2011 at 12:23 PM
Its great to catch a petty thief in the act!
Posted by: Matthew Gallaway | 02/01/2011 at 12:45 PM